U.S. Investing $9 Million in Israeli Alternative Fuels Start-Ups

Virent, a previously mentioned Wisconsin CAPCO portfolio company, has been in the news in regards to its recent investment:

The U.S. Department of Energy is making a $9 million investment in a joint Israeli-American venture to develop alternative fuels.

Israel’s HCL Cleantech is joining forces with the American biofuels startup LS9 will use cellulosic feedstocks to produce alternative fuels.

HCL Cleantech uses technology developed by Nazis in Germany to produce sugars from nonfood organic sources, mainly acidic cellulosic sources, Haaretz reported.
The grant is the second U.S. government award that HCL Cleantech has received this year. In January HCL Cleantech and its American partner, Wisconsin-based Virent Energy Systems Inc. received a $900,000 grant from BIRD Energy, a program for U.S.-Israel joint renewable energy development funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructures, and the BIRD Foundation.